The wild elephant population had been growing in Chhattisgarh with the latest count at 300 from 30 earlier, Forest Minister Mahesh Gagda informed reporters on Wednesday.
He said that collar IDs are being put on all the wild elephants to track their movements. Gagda said that under the Joint Forest Management Plan, out of nearly 20,000 villages, 11,185 villages coming within five kms inside the forest boundaries now have 7,887 forest management committees for protection of wild animals and forest. The plan which was started in 2006-07 has 27.63 lakh villagers as members of committees, he said.
The Minister said that the State Government had been compensating people who have been attacked by wild animals.
There had been a significant hike in the level of compensation awarded to the victims of wild animal attacks, he said. The compensation which was Rs one lakh in 2003 is now Rs four lakhs, Gagda said.
